An internet, including but not limited to, the Internet, intranets, extranets and similar networks, is a world-wide network of computers, where each computer is identified by a unique address. The addresses are logically subdivided into domains or domain names (e.g. ibm.com, pbs.org, and oranda.net) which allow a user to reference the various addresses. A web, including but not limited to the World Wide Web (WWW) is a group of these computers accessible to each other via a common communication protocol, or language, including but not limited to Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Resources on the computers in each domain are identified with unique addresses called Universal Resource Locator (URL) addresses (i.e.,http://www.ibm.com/products/laptops.htm). A web site is a destination on a web. A web site can be an entire individual domain, multiple domains, or even a single URL.
Web sites are comprised of different resources that can be of many types. Resources with a .htm or. html ending are text files, or pages, formatted in a specific manner called Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML). HTML is a collection of tags used to mark blocks of text and assign meaning to them. A specialised computer application called a browser can decode the HTML files and display the information contained within. Other resources include images, audio, and video files. A hyperlink is a navigable reference in an HTML page to another resource on the WWW.
A means for searching an internet, including, but not limited to an internet Search Engine, is a web application that exists to help users locate information on the Internet. This is accomplished through the use of:                a) A database of web resources, which is continually developed and maintained. Examples of resources are web pages, web sites, images, digital audio and digital video; generally, any file or collection of files located on an internet.        b) Processes for searching the database of web resources. Such processes are typically a set of standard interface programs, including, but not limited to Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs. These programs may be written in PERL, TCL, or any other language suitable for the task. These programs process data, pass the data to other server side programs if necessary, and return the appropriate response to the client computer.        c) A user interface that allows one to manipulate the database searching processes on the database. The user interface is typically an html form containing fields, which the user inputs data into. This data may be in a number of different forms; the most common of which are plain text, phrases, or Boolean expressions.        
The main purpose of an internet search engine is to provide users the ability to query the database of internet content and to locate content that is relevant to the user's query. A user can visit the search engine web site with a browser and enter a query into a form (or page), including, but not limited to, an HTML page, provided for the task. The query may be in several different forms, but most common are words, phrases, or questions. The query data is sent to the search engine through a standard interface, including, but not limited to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). The CGI is a means of passing data between a client, a computer requesting data or processing, and a program or script on a server, a computer providing data or processing. The combination of a form on a HTML page and a CGI script is an example of a script application; however, there are other examples of script applications. The search engine will inspect its database for the URLs of resources most likely to be relevant to the submitted query. The list of URL results is returned to the user, with the format of the returned list varying from engine to engine. The returned hyperlinks are typically sorted by relevance, with the most relevant resources near the top of the list.
Search engines follow a set of rules to determine the relevancy of a resource. The rules differ from search engine to search engine. In one common instance, the rules are based around the frequency and location of keywords on a page, where keywords are words and phrases derived from the query.
For example, a page containing keywords in its title is normally assumed to be more relevant than those without the keywords in the title. Similarly, a pages that recites keywords in the first few paragraphs of its body, or in headings on the page, are more likely to be relevant than pages that does not. Furthermore, if a page frequently recites a keyword, then that page is more likely to be relevant than a page that infrequently recites keywords. These exemplify the simple factors used by most search engines in determining frequency. Some search engines use different methods. For example, one search engine uses the amount a site owner has paid to “buy” a particular keyword as a factor for ranking relevancy of a web site. The more the site owner has paid, the higher their site will be ranked.
There are several U.S. patents that disclose methods for ranking resources, and in one case, implementing user feedback. These are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,891 to Kaplan et al. discloses a system for adjusting hypertext links with weighted user goals and activities. Hypermedia links to other nodes are recommended by ranking a list in an order that depends on one or more user profiles. The implementation of user profiles for ranking a list is well known in the art. The Kaplan invention does not implement user feedback for ranking a list and does not employ an internet search engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,799 to Lang et al. discloses a method and apparatus for filtering a data stream. This invention implements an information filter apparatus that consists of various filters such as adaptive content filters, credibility filters and community filters. The described filter apparatus is not directed to a search engine known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention is not directed to a known search engine. Rather, the filter apparatus is directed, if at any type of search engine, to a new non-real time search engine. This invention presents an article to a user from a data stream rather than from a database. The article, and its relevancy, is rated through the use of a proposed feedback profile from the user. A search request is transmitted to a network of users, who each make their own recommendations based on the request. These recommendations are pooled and weighted according to user profiles. This method attempts to improve the performance of a particular profile by modifying the user profiles based on feedback response.
The patent to Lang is problematic for several reasons. The invention does not rate a search engine's ability to propose articles in response to a particular query. Rather, the invention rates articles. Thus, an article has only one rating. There is a long felt need for a method and apparatus that rates query responses rather than rating articles. The present invention solves this long felt need.
Furthermore, the patent to Lang discloses the implementation of user interaction as a factor in determining relevancy. This method of ranking relevancy can cause undue delays since the ratings are transmitted in non-real time. There is a long felt need for enhancing relevancy ratings in real time search engines. The present invention solves this long felt need.
The current technology allows for the unfortunate circumstance of poor results being returned to users. By applying user profiles and user feedback, a search engine of higher quality could be constructed. A higher quality search engine would allow the ranking of a resource in response to a particular query to be determined both by keywords and by demographic data provided by the user. There is a long felt need for a method or apparatus that enhances a search engine's ability to create a database of resources and rank the resources by relevance in response to a particular user query. The present invention addresses this long felt need.